A Los Angeles-based nonprofit opened an early childhood center specifically for children whose families are seeking asylum in the United States. This center is one of the only places available where migrant children can play and learn for free.

Journey back in time to when San Diego was a Wild West boomtown with “Nemesis: A Novel of Old California,” a new historical tale by Joe Yogerst. Cheap land, new technology and murders are the hot topics of the 1888 provincial town. U.S. Marshal Cradoc Bradshaw must find who’s killing the wealthy businessmen while journalist Nicholas Pinder is all too happy to publish the crimes. Historical figures like Wyatt Earp, Kate Sessions and Alonzo Horton make appearances.

Yogerst grew up in Pacific Beach and lives in Carmel Valley with his family. He has written articles for the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, BBC Travel and Conde Nast Traveler. He has won the Lowell Thomas Award multiple times for travel writing, including his book about traveling through Vietnam, “Land of Nine Dragons.” He has worked in Hollywood developing television movies and wrote episodes for “Silk Stalkings,” a long-running murder mystery series.

Q: Did growing up in San Diego influence this book?

A: For sure. Even though I was born and raised in Pacific Beach, I spent a lot of time in Old Town, Point Loma, Balboa Park, the Embarcadero and downtown San Diego as a kid. My parents were big on weekend field trips to the far corners of the city and county. And I kept that up as a teenager after I got my license — exploring San Diego with my high school friends. So from a pretty early age, I had a good feel for local history, geography and where I came from. I was particularly fascinated with the frontier period — when San Diego was a mix of rowdy seaport and cowboy town — and wondered why that era of local history wasn’t more celebrated. Why did so few San Diegans seem to know about our Wild West days? Why weren’t there more books or movies? Somewhere along the line, I started to formulate my own story about early San Diego — set against a backdrop of places I explored as a kid.

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Q: Please explain why you picked the year 1888?

A: It was a crucial year in local history. The real estate boom of the 1880s had just peaked and was starting a slow downward slide. Many of the neighborhoods we know today — like Ocean Beach, Coronado and Hillcrest — had just been created by real estate speculators. The railroad had recently come to town, linking San Diego with the rest of the nation and revolutionizing local life in terms of transportation and commodities. Law enforcement was in transition from an old-fashioned sheriff’s department into a modern police force. Some of the famous names of the era, like Wyatt Earp and Lillie Langtry, either lived here or visited in 1888. There were lots of new inventions — like the telephone, typewriter and photograph — that people were bringing into their homes and businesses. A very exciting time in a town with a real buzz.

Q: What did San Diego look like at this time?

A: A miniature version of San Francisco’s notorious Barbary Coast mixed with the typical elements of a prosperous Wild West town — a waterfront crowded with sailing vessels like the Star of India and steamships, stately Victorian homes and bayside shanties, horseback riders and horse-drawn carriages plodding down unpaved streets. And not a lot of trees in those days — it was basically desert meets the sea. And a wild mix of people: Hispanics, the Asian residents of San Diego’s Chinatown and 30,000 immigrants from elsewhere in the United States, who arrived almost overnight when the railroad was finished. The population more than tripled in just a couple of years.

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Q: What was the Stingaree district? Why did the law allow it?

A: The Stingaree was a notorious saloon, gambling and red-light district in an area bounded today by Market Street, Petco Park and the convention center. In other words, the lower half of today’s Gaslamp Quarter. Even though prostitution and gambling were technically illegal at the time, local government and law enforcement figured they were impossible to eliminate and better practiced out in the open in a confined part of town that could be easily policed. A fairly progressive viewpoint by today’s standards. By the early 20th century, more puritanical attitudes prevailed among the powers that be. Right before World War I, the city began a cleanup of the Stingaree that turned the once lively district into a rundown “skid row” that endured until the 1980s when the Gaslamp was redeveloped.

Q: What technology was on the cutting edge in 1888? Is it important to your main character, Nicholas Pinder?

A: First and foremost, the typewriter. It revolutionized Nick’s work life and that of every other journalist in late 19th century America. The excitement of suddenly being able to compose your words with a machine rather than longhand must have been similar to what I felt earlier in my career when I first used a personal computer. Nick is one of the first people in San Diego to have a telephone installed at home, something he finds both useful and irritating. Horton Plaza had recently been illuminated by electric arc lights. Josie Earp introduces phonographic music as a way to entertain her patrons at the Oyster Bar. The technological changes taking place at that time were just as astounding as the ones we’ve faced in the Iinternet age.

Q: What San Diego real historical figures do you admire from this period?

A: Sheriff Joe Coyne stands out more than anyone. At the age of 15, he left his home in Ohio, came out to California for the Gold Rush and ended up at the gold mines in Julian before his career as a lawman in San Diego. He served as both sheriff and the city’s first police chief. And nearly a century later, his great granddaughter became a San Diego cop.

Another person who intrigues me is George Marston, partially because I remember visiting his department store downtown when I was a kid. Also, he was our version of the renaissance man — a successful businessman, politician and all around do-gooder who helped create four of my favorite places in San Diego: Balboa Park, Presidio Park, Torrey Pines State National Reserve and Anza-Borrego State Park.

Q: Why did you want to include a historical postscript at the end?

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A: I simply wanted readers to know who was real and who wasn’t in long-ago San Diego. Part of my goal was to illuminate a period of our history that not a lot of people seem to know about.

Q: Do you like writing fiction or nonfiction better?

A: I enjoy both for different reasons. Although I’ve largely made a living as a journalist — and I certainly enjoy the opportunities for travel and adventure it’s afforded me over the years. I’ve always had fictional stories and characters floating around in my head. I’ve tinkered with fiction in the past, especially during the four years I spent writing murder mysteries for television. But that wasn’t nearly as rewarding as the researching and writing that went into creating something about my hometown.

Q: How many countries you have visited? Any favorites?

A: I’ve visited around 130 independent countries and another 30 territories or colonial possessions. All of them are intriguing in their own way. The two that always come to mind as my favorites are Australia and Chile. I love big, wide-open spaces with a variety of landscapes, wildlife and outdoor adventures, and those two certainly fit the bill — with places like Kakadu in Australia and Torres del Paine in Chile. They also have friendly people, great food and wine, and I’m comfortable driving myself around either country.

Q: In your opinion, what are two of the best places to visit in the U.S.?

A: Besides San Diego? Like the world at large, there are so many to choose from. Two of my recent discoveries are Glacier National Park in Montana and the Adirondacks in upstate New York, which I got to know while researching my upcoming “100 Parks” book and state parks video series for National Geographic.

Q: What are some fun things you love to do in San Diego?

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A: Last spring, my wife and I started taking what I call “neighborhood walks” to explore parts of San Diego we didn’t know very well or that I may have lost touch with over the years. Some of our favorites are Missions Hills, Bird Rock and the La Playa waterfront trail in Point Loma. I’m game for just about anything that happens in Balboa Park or Torrey Pines Reserve — places where I went to summer camp as a kid. I like to kayak on Mission Bay, some of the local lakes and lagoons. And I’m a huge craft beer fan.

Q: Anything you’d like to add?

A: There’s a good chance that I wouldn’t have become a writer if I’d never gone to University High School in the 1970s. Creativity was stressed in a lot of my classes and we had a student newspaper moderator — Mr. Danny Wilson — who encouraged us to push the outside of the envelope when it came to writing and reach for the stars. A lot of my El Cid newspaper colleagues — like Cameron Crowe, Cindy Luis, David Coddon and myself — have been writing ever since.

Donoghue — a playwright, literary historian, screenwriter and author of multiple books — adapted “Room” for the screen and the film was nominated for four Academy Awards in 2015, including Best Adapted Screenplay

Susie Ghahremani is an award-winning illustrator, artist and author who recently illustrated the children’s book “Little Muir’s Song,” based on the words of famed environmentalist John Muir. Proceeds from the book support Yosemite National Park.